Chuck's charges broke camp at the end of March with the skipper overflowing with his usual optimism. Tanner called the 1974 edition of the White Sox the best-balanced team he had since he had come to Chicago. He went so far as to say that it was the strongest team in club history.

Robert Markus wasn't feeling Tanner's optimism. Not only did he pick the Sox to finish third, he wasn't too hopeful about how things...

The 1973 White Sox may not have been a success on the field, but they were at the gate. Buoyed by preseason expectations and the fast 27-15 start, the Sox' final attendance for the season came to 1,302,527, their highest total since they last defended the AL pennant in 1960. They also had increased attendance four years running for the first time since 1942-45. It was also 807,172 more than the woebegone 1970 team had drawn. AT the very least they seemed to be on doing well in terms of drawing fans...

The 1973 season was supposed to be the one where the Chicago White Sox were to rise fully triumphant from the near-franchise destroying debacle of 1968-70, most especially 1970's 56-106 mark. Instead, they took an injury-riddled step back in a season that exposed many of the team's weaknesses-lack of pitching, lack of depth, lack of money to properly pay its players. And now, in this offseason, they were about to become part of a soap opera plotline that began to develop...

The team took the field for the 9th inning abuzz with excitement. They were leading 10-5 and on the verge of clinching the AL West title. All of their hard work and dedication was going to pay off. They were going to be champs, and were filled with that giddy feeling that comes with anticipation.

On the same night that the White Sox shelved Dick Allen for the season, they lost to the Tigers to hit 59-69, their lowest point in the season. Tanner and Hemond wrote off the season and made the decision to give more playing time to fresh faced rookies like Brian Downing, Jerry Hairston, Bill Sharp and Bucky Dent to see what they could produce.